UGHHHH

8/2/14

This week was fairly unproductive, unfortunately.  From Monday to Wednesday I traveled to our district capital, Ghorahai.  Elizabeth and I had been planning a trip to meet up, for a few weeks, so it was great to see her-we ate cheese and apples, drank wine and did mani/pedis-a nice little treat!

While there, I went to visit the District Agricultural Development Office to meet with my supervisor.  He is a very nice man, but I am getting pretty sick of how disappointed people are when they find out that I have virtually no agriculture background-especially in comparison to the other two Ag volunteers in Dang, who graduated with related degrees.  I find it very frustrating that PC put me in this position-being expected to be an expert on something that I know so little about.  There have been many times when people in my community have asked me about something Ag related and I’ve had no idea!  How am I expected to ask these people to give up some of their land, perhaps some of their livelihood, to let me experiment, when it is very likely that I could mess it up?! Gahhh!

Another frustrating aspect of the trip was my visit to the local hospital to have my bowel problems checked out.  Once I finally spoke with someone there who understood what I needed, a group of men who did not seem to work for the hospital, and were just lounging around (as people seem to do here, in the weirdest places) began loudly discussing my request. It’s always fun to have strangers yelling “stool test, stool test” about you!  I was taken to a bathroom with a western toilet and given the most ridiculously small vile-picture one that essential oils are sold in-to use.  I almost laughed out loud when they handed it to me.  Having already had to collect my own sample, that morning, it became a matter of transferring….  Once done, I had to wander the halls for several minutes, with the disgusting, tiny vile, trying to find someone to give it to.  After finally handing it off, Elizabeth and I spent nearly two hours waiting for something to happen.  When I was finally called into the lab, they told me that “now we will do the test.” WHAT?  What happens next is one of the most ridiculous things that has happened to me here. 

The lab tech took the vile, walked over to the window, held it up to the light, and took 15 seconds to write down a description of it.  THAT WAS IT-that was the test!  They then gave me the sheet on which was recorded such basic information that I think I’ll just do it myself next time!  I called the PC doctor who assured me that nothing was wrong, based on the sheet that the lab tech had read to him, but that, because of the presence of un-digested food particles, I should consider chewing my food better. Geeh, thanks, that’s about the most ground-breaking medical advice anybody has ever gotten throughout history! 

I think that there is a real frustration, among the volunteers, about the level of support that we are getting from PC-this experience being just one illustration of that. I understand that starting up a new program is difficult, but it seems, recently, that PC is oscillating between being so controlling of some parts of our lives, while leaving us dangling at other times-with all the other things that we’re dealing with, that makes it even harder.

On the bright side, I got one letter and six packages this week! I’m so spoiled!  The first four required an all day trek to my Ag office, two VDCs away.  A 90 minute hard bike ride, followed by a 30 minute cramped jeep ride, followed by a two hour wait for the post office manager, who was, of course, not there.  And, since this is Nepal, we, of course, had to stop at two friend’s houses on the way back, meaning that I didn’t get home until nearly two hours after I had wanted to.  It’s my fault, because I keep forgetting that if you leave the house, and try to get more than one thing done in a day, it’s not going to happen-everything takes forever, here. 

I got the other two packages yesterday, in town, with my doctor friend, Om.  Since I had not planned on going into town, I tried to get some work done on the Internet, there.  I am contacting as many NGOs as possible, to get their services brought to my area, and I started a Crowd Rise account to raise money for the ambulance that my community needs (email me if you are interested in donating, I will also post the link on my Facebook page). So, even though the day involved Skyping with Molly, getting packages and eating fried food, I still felt somewhat productive. 

Today is a day for cleaning, like most Saturdays.

Next week I’ll have to go back to Ghorahai, just for a day, to our monthly district Ag meeting, and on the 17^th, I’ll leave for IST-In Service Training.

Speaking of, I’m dreading IST.  The whole PCN200 group hasn’t seen each other in three months, and we’ve never all been together for more than 6 days, so I’m anticipating DRAMA.  We’ve all been cooped up, and ready for a break-however, what we’ve been given is 11 days straight of 8-5 trainings in a town with nothing to do at night- not anybody’s idea of a break.  Add that to exhaustion from all day trainings, lectures and language courses, and I anticipate a very stressful situation.  Plus, it means that I’ll have to be gone from Danny for soooo long!

While this post sounds like I’m incredibly frustrated, things are actually ok.  My health is better, and I’m getting into the meat of my work on the VSA-after, which, I actually get to start working!

Well, I’m off to write letters and clean.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Xoxox

Zoop